Grace of the Wild
by Drenn
Summary: When a wild Slayer and her Potential companion show up in Sunnydale there's not much Buffy can do other than take them in. Besides, with another Apocalypse on its way Sunnydale needs all the help it can get. Fuffy, Willow/Kennedy. AU ish
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **When a wild Slayer and her Potential companion show up in Sunnydale after living in the wild there's not much Buffy can do other than take them in. Besides, with another Apocalypse on its way Sunnydale needs all the help it can get. The only question is, could the new arrivals be the source on the impending Apocalypse? Fuffy, Willow/Kennedy. AU(ish). Events from Seasons 5/6/7 may show up.

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><p>The light of the stars barely filtered through the thick Californian forest. In the dusk two humanoid figures could be vaguely seen emerging into the night. Undoubtedly human and female in body, they moved with the grace of the wild. If given a good wash and mended, the clothes they wore could easily have been fashionable. However extended time in the wild, and who knows what else, had rendered the clothes mere dirty indistinguishable rags. Their long hair was matted and knotted, having not seen a shower or comb for many days.<p>

The girls, for though they were clearly full grown neither had reached their twentieth year yet, ambled through the woods. They moved with a speed that no human should be able to accomplish in the forest, moving with ease around all obstacles that would trip and slow a normal visitor to the wild. The taller and clearly older of the pair lead the way with the younger following, leaving no space between them. They moved as one, used to each others movements after years living together. Only by the split second between their foot beats could one distinguish that the older was in fact leading, and that the two weren't moving in synchronicity.

Their hunt was nearing its end. They moved with a fever that they had not since they had first entered the wild. Their target was close, within their grasp.

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><p>Not far off, in the town of Sunnydale, Buffy Summers called a brief goodbye to Dawn before heading out for her nightly patrol.<p>

The night air was calm, a balmy Californian breeze swept between the palm trees. In the distance, birds were chirping. For a town like Sunnydale, the night was incredibly peaceful.

Buffy hoped for the patrol to be a quick one, as she promised to meet Xander and Willow at the Bronze. The night was beautiful and she didn't want to waste it in a boring cemetery.

With briefness in mind, Buffy hopped the fence of the closest of Sunnydale's cemeteries.

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><p>In the woods the feral pair raced on. If they were bloodhounds they would have their noses to the ground, their prey's scent strong in their mouths. But, of course, they weren't and instead they raced on. The foliage around the pair was thinning, but they only ran faster, not noticing as they left the wild. If either had been paying attention they might have noticed the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign by the side of the road.<p>

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><p>On the other side of town Buffy was strolling through the cemetery. The night had continued to be calm, and she had only ran into and dusted two vamps. The Slayer within her was stirring, she assumed, impatient by the lack of slaying. Little did Buffy know that the Slayer was actually reacting to the rapidly approaching pair on the city limits.<p>

"Hey girly." Came the low growl of the vamp that she had been waiting to approach her. "It's a dark night to be out alone in the cemetery. Don't know what you'll run into."

Buffy smiled sincerely, throwing off the vampire. "Yeah, you might accidentally run into a Slayer or something." The creature realized its mistake too late.

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><p>The pair was in a small woodland area between a few suburbs now. Small creatures, unused to such large predators, fled before them. They reached the edge of the grove of trees abruptly. The elder stopped suddenly, and put her arm out to shield the younger from going out into the open. Ahead of them was the objective of their quest.<p>

The younger subconsciously licked her lips. Finally. The older of the pair seemed almost in shock. A feeling she had never experienced spread through her veins. It was like her blood was buzzing in anticipation. A warmth seemed to envelope her. This was it.

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><p>As Buffy finished off the third vamp of the night, she found that the Slayer in her was not calmed by the slaying, and was only further agitated. Her Slayer senses were on high alert, bells were going off in her head. Suddenly she felt as if she was being watched.<p>

Scanning the tree lines for something, Buffy felt an indescribable feeling. It was the Slayer in her, roaring its head louder than ever before. There was something powerful out tonight.

Just as Buffy took a step towards the tree line to investigate, she heard the crutch of dry soil behind her. She turned fast, just in time to stop a blow aimed towards her head. While she had been preoccupied with her inner Slayer, she had been surrounded.

The reason for the lull in vampiric activity all night was now clear. What seemed to be more than half of Sunnydale's vampire population had snuck up on her.

"Hello Slayer." Said the owner of the fist that she was currently blocking. "Lovely night out." A demon. He wasn't all that well dressed, but his leather jacket and matching attire could definitely be considered snappy.

No doubt another whippersnapper who decided he wanted to take over Sunnydale and had decided on the classic "Kill the Slayer" plan.

Buffy frowned at that internal monologue; since when had whippersnapper been part of her vocabulary? There seemed to be definite Giles influence in that thought. Pulling herself from her vocabulary thoughts she caught the end of the demon's rant. Probably should have been paying attention. Oops.

"-Now, kill her!" Was all she caught. Eh, probably wasn't important anyway. Kill Slayer. Take over Sunnydale. Take over world. They all said the same things.

Buffy avoided the first vamps with ease, and dusted about half of them. However, it was clear that she was outnumbered almost instantly. Buffy was good, but skill can only get you so far. She'd have to rely on luck for this fight.

The vampires came in waves, crashing over the tombstones, and some even erupting from the ground, either having been hiding or having just awoken. As long as they kept coming in waves and leaving time in-between she would be fine.

Buffy took out the first wave with the ease that came with the profession. The night air was filled with smoke and dust. She barely had a chance to catch her breath before the second wave descended.

The Slayer within her relished the fight, but the human was frightened. This time, Buffy might have bitten off more than she could chew.

By the time the second wave had only been diminished by half, the third wave was already rushing towards Buffy. The Slayer felt, rather than heard, a heavy fist whizzing through the air towards her. Moving to block it, she was stopped by a well placed kick to the gut. Momentarily breathless, the punch connected hard with Buffy's head. She felt the fist hit her temple, and then she felt everything go black.

When she slipped back into consciousness, Buffy found herself being restrained by five very able looking vamps. She couldn't have been out for more than a minute, if that. The snappy dressed demon was back.

Mr. Snappy, as Buffy found herself calling him, was strutting around pep talking his vampire minions. Her head still throbbing, she didn't mind his talk again until he pumped his hand into the air and flames shot into the sky.

A pyromaniac demon. Joy.

Mr. Snappy finished his speech with five chilling words. "Tonight we dine on Slayer blood!" Oh wait, that was six. Didn't matter much as Buffy decided it was time to hightail it out and get Giles to do some research before she faced Mr. Snappy and Co. again.

Her captors had other plans though. As Buffy high kicked one vampire holding her, another vamp took it's place. It was near hopeless, now that she was completely surrounded and being held down.

Then, a terrifying howling arose. Buffy wasn't sure if howling was the right word for it even. To say that it was inhuman would be a lie, but that was part of what made it all the more terrifying. The howl was certainly human. Buffy had heard so many demons screech, or werewolves howl, that it didn't phase her. But the sound that emitted from the tree line at the edge of the forest was a harmony of human vocals pushed to their limits.

The howling ceased, as did the fighting, as demon, vamp, and human peered toward the tree line. Then they emerged from the woods, with a stunning speed. Two dirt clad figures.

Buffy wasn't sure if the oncoming figures were friend or foe, but was pleasantly surprised to find that they were at very least anti-vampire when they attacked.

The first jumped the closest vamp. The entire mob watched as she leaped onto the vampire and ripped off its head with only her hands, dusting the vamp instantly. The second was close behind, with a flying kick to one vamp and then flipping mid-flight to stake the neighboring vamp.

There was a split second of awe as the pair landed next to each other before chaos broke out. Mr. Snappy was yelling orders that no one was paying attention to. Buffy was escaping from her captors and joining the fray. Through the mess of dust and flying vampires she caught glimpses of the pair. They fought fluidly together, the first taking vamps down, and the second, and smaller, finishing off anything the first left behind. Some vampires were fleeing, and some were joining in a giant brawl.

Releasing her inner Slayer, now that she had, at least for the moment, allies, Buffy went all out. She slayed anything that didn't have a heartbeat within her stake-reach.

The battle was over in a blur. Buffy was abuzz with the aftereffects off slaying, not quite down from the fight, and not quite craving her non-fat yogurt yet.

As the dust literally settled Buffy looked around at the now nearly empty graveyard. Her pair of allies watched her. They stuck together, the taller, and probably elder slightly in front of the other, protective. Buffy noticed that the younger had a few minor injuries and a nasty looking cut on her left leg, whereas the older was completely unscathed.

The Slayer senses continued to buzz in the back of Buffy's brain, confirming her suspicion that the pair was what caused her Slayer senses to go haywire. When neither party made the first move Buffy hesitantly called out. "Hello."

Neither seemed to respond other than look up at the sound of her voice. Slowly Buffy took a step forward. The elder of the pair was instantly on defense, proverbial hackles raised. Holding her hands up in surrender, Buffy continued her way towards the feral pair. When she reached them she sat down on a nearby tombstone so she was at their squatting level.

"Look, I'm a friend. Not a bit of scary vamp-ness in me." Ever so slowly the elder seemed to relax. "Nothing but a measly little Slayer."

At the word 'Slayer' however, the elder feral girl tensed back up. However this time, it was not defensive, but rather offensive. She leaped into the air and narrowly avoided colliding with Buffy. As the Slayer step sided and she readied herself to fight again. However, the surreal expression of her face, which Buffy could now see under the matted hair, held no malice and only emotions Buffy could not quite decipher. It was as if she didn't know her own strength.

A thin raspy voice escaped from her lips, vocal chords harsh from lack of use. "Buffy... Summers..." She rasped out, eye's searching Buffy's own for any sort of recognition.

Before Buffy could process the event and respond, a whimper was heard. Both Buffy and the elder looked over as the shorter of the pair attempted to stand, no doubt fruitless trying to hide her injury. Failing desperately and about to collapse in pain, the girl fell to the ground, only to be rescued by the elder half of the pair.

The elder supported the other and gently picked her up, carrying her bridle style, concern - an oddly human emotion - evident on her face.

Turning to Buffy only briefly, she repeated herself, with more conviction and volume. "Buffy Summers." Then, the pair was off into the night running at the speed of a demon.

Only after Buffy was sure they were gone did she whip out her cell phone and call her speed dial number 3, Giles, - after Dawn and Sunydale's local pizza delivery.

"Hello, Giles speaking." Came the groggy British voice on the other line after a few rings.

"It's me." Buffy said. "We need to talk."

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><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Hello new readers! Thank you for reading! If you have any comments thus far, feel free to drop a review (Read: Please drop a review). I wanna here from you all. This story will a Buffy/Faith AND Willow/Kennedy. Faith and Kennedy will have more of a sisterly friend relationship, but it will still be developed. The central plot may be slow in progressing at points, but I assure you this story does have one (with several subplots).

**I will attempt to update ever Saturday or Sunday, provided I have time and get enough reviews to show there will be interest in this story.**

(So, please. Review and story alert this. Go ahead an tell me about my mistakes, or what I confused. I might even reply to you. It'll be fun. I promise. My writings normally not as bad as this chapter was. I wrote in on an iPod. In a car. Which I was stuck in for several hours. Wheee!)


	2. Chapter 2

Giles took off his glasses and absentmindedly cleaned them before turning to look back at Buffy. Sighing, he rearranged them back onto his face.

"And you are absolutely sure the pair were human?" He asked for the seemingly umpteenth time that night.

"Like, super human." The Slayer responded. Frowning, after hearing her statement out loud, she amended herself. "No demon or vampy-ness to them."

"And your Slayer senses?" Giles drilled.

"Situation Normal All Fouled Up. Little buzz-y feelings and general haywire-ness." Buffy confirmed her earlier statement.

"Tell me again how they fought?" Giles asked as he flipped through several old books, a fusty smell rising from the pages.

Buffy paused momentarily, recalling the battle. "They fought like animals. Wild and feral. Yet they moved in synchrony to each other."

"As if they were trained?" A cloud of dust exploded from one tome leaving Giles hacking for air. When the air cleared Buffy responded.

"They were either trained together or have been fighting together for a long time. But there's no way they were untrained – they dusted more vamps than me."

Giles paused. "Their strength rivaled that of a Slayer, and you're certain they were human?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yes. Or at least the older one was."

"The younger one wasn't human?"

"No, the older one was way stronger. She didn't even get hurt in the fight. She also ripped off a vamps head with her bare hands."

"She has bear hands? Whoa, what kinda Big Bad are we up against here?" Xander took that moment to enter through Giles' unlocked front door. Giles decided not to respond to Xander's stupidity and lack of knocking before entering. Willow followed Xander inside. Buffy had called them after she had hung up her conversation with Giles to cancel their plans at the Bronze for the night, but they insisted on joining the meeting at Giles'.

"Possibly a Big Good." Willow suggested. "I mean, she dusted a bunch of vamps and helped out Buffsters."

"In Sunnydale?" Buffy scoffed. "The only Big Good in Sunnydale is the Slayer, and I already hold that title."

"Actually you don't, what with the dieing and the reviving, and the dieing again and the black magics. Technically Kendra was the Slayer, but she went the way of the hypnotizing and the dieing." Willow trailed off. "I'll stop the babbling now."

"Actually," Giles cleaned his glasses again. "Hold that thought."

"The hypnotizing and the dieing? I'd prefer much happier thoughts. Like kittens. I think I'll adopt a kitty, and name her Miss Kitty Fantastico."

Giles cleared his throat, and Willow promptly shut up. "What thought is she supposed to be holding? Because I personally favor the kittens to death. And I'm a dog guy." Xander not-so-helpfully supplied.

"Buffy is no longer _The_ Slayer, meaning that there is the probability of the new Slayer showing up here in Sunnydale." Giles theorized.

"With a sidekick and greatly in need of a shower." Buffy grumbled.

"It's worth looking into." Willow suggested to Giles. The librarian nodded and excused himself to the other room to make a phone call, no doubt to one of his remaining friends in the Council.

The three Scoobies awkwardly waited in the living room. "What are you going to do if she is the new Slayer?" Willow asked.

"From the look of it, give her access to running water and a new wardrobe." Buffy paused. "And you know, feed her. Take her on walks. Clean up after her. Dawn did mention she wanted a pet the other day." They had a mild chuckle at the thought.

Giles returned from the other room.

"Do we have a wild Slayer on our hands?" Buffy asked, intently.

"Well, that's up for you to decide, Buffy. My contact in the Council has agreed to send me the file on the current Slayer." Giles motioned at Willow, who looked up. "And, uh, if you could get that blasted computer working, he's going to be sending over the file. It also might be encrypted."

The Scoobies smiled at that. Despite being in the modern age of technology Giles still insisted on being an old, British - stubborn - man and tried to avoid computers. That didn't stop him from having a state of the art desktop for whenever he did use it, however.

Willow immediately set to work downloading and decrypting the file. Within minutes the document was in typical readable format, and was being printed off. Giles picked up the first sheet and started reading off important tidbits.

"Faith Lehane. Born December 14. Activated after the death of Kendra Young. Before her activation she trained with her Watcher Diana Dormer. She continued to train with her until her Watcher's untimely death. No one has heard or seen of her since."

The gravity of the situation slowly set in. The printer whirled in the corner, printing the final page. A old photo of Faith. She was younger, and the picture was not the best quality, but she was clearly the girl Buffy had encountered earlier. Buffy stared at the picture for a while. The other Slayer was younger and certainly less feral. The picture had probably caught her unaware. She was laughing, face partially turned away from the camera. Her eyes had caught the camera right before it flashed, still mid-laugh, she had smiled at whoever had been holding the camera. Obviously she had cared about whoever was the camera holder. Her Watcher perhaps? The photo was cropped around the Slayer, as if someone else had been in the picture. In the background there were several weapons hung up on a wall. It was obviously her training room.

"Is that the girl, Buff?" Xander asked.

"Yeah..." Buffy confirmed their suspicions. Slowly, she gently folded the picture and slipped it into her back pocket. She looked at Giles. "Now what?"

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><p>"Not that I'm apposed to some good, old best friend quality time in the woods, but wouldn't it be easier if I just do a locating spell?" Willow wondered as she shined her flashlight around the woods, ahead of her Buffy was ferociously attempting to plow a trail through the trees.<p>

"We don't have anything of her's to track her with, and if you tried to track her by her Slayer-ness you'd just find me."

"So what are the two of us doing then?" Willow turned in a circle, not seeing much in the woods.

"I'm playing a game of Hot-Cold with my Slayer senses, and you are swinging around a flashlight for me. Also if we find them you get to play medic. …I swear this game was at least more fun when I was five." Buffy mumbled the last sentence, but Willow still caught it.

Closing her eyes Buffy focused in on her Slayer senses. The warm buzzing she had been feeling earlier was in the back of her mind, a gentle humming. Turning, she felt the humming intensive as she got closer to the other Slayer.

"Buffy." Willow attempted to get her attention.

Buffy took a step towards the warmth. It was working!

"Buffy." Willow tried again.

Buffy took another step, the warmth burning through her.

"Buffy Summers." The deep husky voice clued Buffy in that it wasn't Willow.

Buffy snapped open her eyes and found herself face to face with the wild Slayer. For a moment time seemed to stop as the two Slayers looked into each others eyes. The Slayer bond was open and free between them, it was if some sort of dam had broken inside of them. Buffy could feel the power flowing off of the other Slayer. Power just like her own. She took a deep breath, steady herself at the sudden exposure to power. The other Slayer outstretched her hand, hovering within centimeters of her face. No doubt she too could feel it.

"Danielle." Willow supplied. It took a feel moments of Buffy to realize her friend had spoken. She didn't look away from the other Slayer, but she was puzzled. "Willow Danielle Rosenberg. You know," Willow added helpfully. "If you are looking for baby names yet."

Buffy attempted to grasp the Slayer's hand, but it shot out of her reach at the faintest hint of touch. "You're Faith, aren't you?"

Slowly she nodded. "She's hurt." It took both Scoobies a second to remember who Faith was talking about.

"Lead us to her." Buffy said, motioning for Faith to lead. The Slayer didn't wait for more instructions, bounding off into the forest. Buffy and Willow began to run after her, but found that neither could ever hope to match the pace she was setting.

After seeing that Buffy and Willow were lagging behind Faith doubled back. Then, she took off into the forest again. Buffy and Willow tried to not lose sight of her, but ultimately found they just couldn't keep up in the dense foliage. Just as they would lose her, Faith would come running back, silently urging them on. This happened several times. Finally they reached their destination.

Underneath a large tree Faith's companion lay. Crumpled in a heap, she didn't look in a good shape. Her shirt was even more in rags than Faith's, and scraps of the dirty fabric could be seen tied around her leg. Her face was contorted in pain, and her eyes were squeezed shut. Instantly Willow's heart went out to the girl, and decided to do everything in her power to make her better.

Mentally thanking herself for reading a first aid book when she was bored in Biology class, Willow set to work. First, she took her first aid kit out of her backpack, and while the Slayers watched over her shoulder, she took out the necessary supplies. Almost instantly Willow realized she would not have enough gauze, their go-to first aid kits were designed for Buffy's injuries, and she had Slayer healing.

She sat down next to the Slayer's companion and got a closer look at the wound and the girl. She was not well fed, no doubt an effect of living in the wild. The gash was on her lower left leg, just below the knee. The rags around it were soaked in blood, and Willow feared the worst when she gingerly removed them. A pale white could be seen at the bottom of the wound, the cut went all the way to the bone.

Assessing the situation Willow realized that immediate action would be necessary. Sterilizing, stitches, and prevention of infection would come later.

"I need you to take off her pants." Willow informed Faith. Buffy looked mildly shocked as Faith instantly co-operated with Willow and followed her instructions, how ever strange they may seem. With little ceremony Faith stripped her companion of her pants, stopping only when the girl made sounds of protest at the movement. "Buffy," Willow ordered, obviously in command as she was in her element. "Apply direct pressure to the wound. Keep her leg elevated and above her body level." Willow handed over several strips of gauze, hoping it would be enough to stop the bleeding before she could be transported to where more supplies were.

Situating herself next to Buffy, Willow traced the girl's thigh. Which, if Willow had not been in super serious mode she might have noticed was certainly well toned. Instead, Willow focused on the wound. Tracing back to the crotch area and then outside the leg Willow found the femoral artery. Applying pressure just above the hip joint Willow began to cut off circulation. It was a job she didn't trust to either of the Slayers. Though she knew that while, at least Buffy, knew her own strength, Willow didn't trust either to know how their strength affected humans.

If either Willow or Buffy had been paying attention they might have noticed Faith lingering around feeling useless. To remedy that she sat down next to the girl and grasped her hand in her own. Briefly she looked up at Faith, and attempted to smile through the pain. It was obviously an attempt and Faith squeezed her hand before looking away again.

After a few minutes of working together Willow and Buffy had stopped most of the bleeding temporally. Quickly wrapping the wound and gauze with bandages Willow had fixed up the girl as best she could. Turning to Faith, Willow explained the situation.

"We've done all that we can for her for now, but she still needs immediate attention. The wound needs to be sterilized and most likely stitched up. She also needs to rest and recover. It would be best if you came with us." Willow looked to Buffy for confirmation, and received the go-ahead. "You can stay with us, and we promise we won't bring her to a hospital unless absolutely necessary."

After sometime and consideration Faith nodded her agreement. Buffy knelt to pick up the girl, but was immediately greeted with a threatening growl from Faith. "I'll take her." Were the only sharp words she offered. Sensing the problem in the situation Willow piped up.

"You need to lead us out of here."

"I'll take her." Faith repeated, with conviction. Gently gathering the barely conscious girl in her arms, leaving no room for argument, Faith stood and began to walk. Hesitantly Willow and Buffy followed. Their trek was silent and not nearly as swift as before, as Faith was careful with her human burden and made sure to clearly avoid all obstacles.

As the not so merry band reached the edge of the forest Buffy and Willow realized they were surprisingly close to their home, seeing the threshold of 1630 Revello Drive in the distance. Ahead of them, far enough away and softly enough to evade even a slayer's hearing Faith whispered to her companion.

"We're gonna make it through this, Ken."

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><p><strong>I will attempt to update ever Saturday or Sunday, provided I have time and get enough reviews to show there will be interest in this story.<strong>

****You know the drill, please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: **As you readers may or may not have noticed, considering that this is AU I've taken it upon myself to take some liberties with the time line. Canon events have and will happened, but will appear slightly changed to suit my needs for this story. I'd like to cover some basics to clear up any confusion. If there's something I haven't covered, it's because I may intent to use it, but go ahead and drop me a review telling me what it was. Here goes it.

Joyce died, leaving her house to Buffy, and Dawn. Willow has since moved in with them, acting as Dawn's second guardian.

Dawn is present in this universe and is/was the Key. Glory's plot arc has already come and gone. Buffy sacrificed herself to save Dawn, died, and went to Heaven. Willow resurrected Buffy.

Spike has been chipped, and is currently working with the Scoobies, but still does not get along with Xander, Willow and Giles.

Tara does not exist. Therefore, Willow never met Tara, never came out to the Scoobies, and never cured Tara's insanity, resulting in Willow's descent into dark magic. Willow never attempted to take over the world, and she also never killed Warren. Though I love Tara just as much as all the other fans, she does not fit into my storyline, and how I want Willow's character to develop.

Willow and Oz broke up after Oz cheated, and Oz left to go control his wolf. He has not returned.

Faith never showed up in Sunnydale previously to this story, because her Watcher was never killed by Kakistos. Since she was never on the run, she never had to flee to Sunnydale and Buffy. Thus, she never killed Allen, and never joined the Mayor, and Buffy defeated him on Graduation Day, alone.

There will be events and references to events in Season 5, 6, and 7, but this story will not closely follow any one season's main plot line.

Buffy and Willow are both currently in college.

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><p>Willow woke in a panic, not quiet sure what it was she was supposed in be panicking about. Her brain filtered through the last day's events trying to find the cause of her unrest. In Scooby terms it had been a calm day. She had woken up, gone to class, came home, and practiced her magics. She and Xander had gone out to the Bronze to met Buffy, until they were called back to Giles' for an emergency meeting. A new Slayer had arrived, along with a mysterious companion. Though the events were unexpected – being a Wicca and a Scooby had lead Willow to never consider anything strange – Willow had a feeling that it wasn't what she was panicked about.<p>

Pulling on some clothes Willow descended down the stairs, passed Dawn and Buffy's rooms, to the living room. As soon as she took a whiff of the air, Willow instantaneously knew what was wrong. Smoke filled the air, a dark scent.

Buffy was trying to cook again, no doubt. Passing by the smoke detector, which had been smashed either when a Pol'gara demon had attacked, or when Dawn had burnt something and Buffy had taken a cursed hammer to it in rage, Willow really couldn't remember. Finding the blonde Slayer bent over a frying pan full of what might have been pancakes, Willow found herself tut-tuting over Buffy's attempt.

"You know we're trying to heal the patients, not poison them?"

Buffy looked up momentarily, just briefly enough for Willow to snatch the pan off the burner and pour the contents into the trash can. "Hey!" Buffy exclaimed.

"You do realize there's smoke everywhere, and if you hadn't smashed the smoke detector last month, the fire department would be on its way?" Willow opened the windows, and with a flick of her wrist, the smoke started to dissipate, outside.

"It was making really loud screeching noises." Buffy grumbled, solving the earlier mystery on how the smoke detector had came to it's current mangled condition on the ceiling.

Willow choose to ignore the comment, and got out eggs from the fridge. Cracking a few into a new frying pan she set about the task of making Buffy and herself breakfast, which considering a Slayer's appetite, was a feat all by itself.

"How are they?" Willow asked.

"The girl's still sleeping on the couch, after Giles stitched her up last night. Faith just passed out an hour or so ago, when I got up. I think she stayed up all night watching over her." Buffy said, listening inside of herself for the constant buzzing that she had internally named the Slayer Bond. It seemed it wasn't going to dull over time, and instead was an unrelenting presence at the back of her mind. Despite the mental "noise" it created Buffy found herself not minding. The bond generated a warmth inside of her, pulsing in her chest. As long as Faith wasn't in the same room, the bond was mildly pleasant.

Buffy looked up, at Willow, confused. Had Willow just said something? Noting the blonde's confusion, Willow repeated herself. "I said, I wonder who she is." Stirring the eggs a bit, Willow continued. "I mean, she's won a Slayer's loyalty and she can definitely hold her own against the baddies."

"Who knows." Buffy responded, suddenly detached from the conversation, having felt the Slayer on the other end of her bond, stirring. The warmth seemed to cool, and the other Slayer's panic filled Buffy. Where was she? How did she get here? The unfamiliar setting confused her, but slowly the panic dispersed. The warmth crept back and intensified as Faith made her way to the kitchen. By the humming in her chest, Buffy didn't even have to turn around to know that Faith was behind her. Willow was babbling away at the stove, happily making breakfast, unaware of the others presence in the room.

"Oh!" Willow exclaimed in surprise, nearly dropping a plate full of breakfast, as she noticed the room's newest silent addition. "You're here!" Looking at Buffy, she rephrased her statement. "She's here! How long as she been here?"

"A few minutes." Buffy answered honestly.

"Food. Um, you need food, don't you?" Willow asked rhetorically as she shoved Buffy's portion of the breakfast into Faith's hands.

"Hey!" Buffy complained as her food was passed off to the other Slayer.

"You'll get food too." Was all the admonishing Buffy received. Faith stared at Willow, burning holes in her head, not touching the food. "What?" She asked, unsure of the wild Slayer's gaze.

"Fork." Faith spoke softly, the rasp of the previous night still present, yet dominated by the husky tone. A soft semi whisper that could carry miles. Willow immediately offered up the silverware, as if fearing the Slayer's discontent. Taking a seat next to Buffy, Faith settled in. She raised a fork full of eggs to her mouth shakily, as if not having used a utensil in some time. Briefly she swallowed, but then immediately dropped her fork and erupted from the table.

"Geez," Willow complained. "I didn't think it was that bad." But Faith was already bolting from the room, responding to a noise that Willow hadn't heard, and Buffy had ignored. In the other room the injured girl was stirring. She opened her eyes, and was relieved to find a pair of familiar brown eyes starring back. The pain in her leg throbbed, and the air around her smelled like smoke and food. Faith looked at the girl, and then at her leg, and then back at the girl.

An unspoken agreement was reached between them as Faith picked up the younger off the couch. Navigating through the still unfamiliar house Faith returned to the kitchen with her passenger. Setting the girl down on a stool she looked at Willow expectantly.

"Food." Faith said.

"Hey!" Buffy exclaimed, as another plate that was originally destined for her stomach was passed on to her house guests.

The two wild girls began to dig into their meals with vigor.

"Well, at least it seems good." Willow commented, as she set about making more breakfast.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Dawn exclaimed the doorway to the kitchen, as she looked in on two strangers. Dawn had already been asleep and in her room the previous night, having been used to nightly comings and goings of the occupants of her household. "Not that I'm against taking in and feeding the homeless, but when did we start doing it."

Both Faith and the girl looked up from their meals, sizing up the newest arrival. The younger decided that the teen was no threat, and returned to her meal, but the older continued to look warily at Dawn. "Mine." Faith declared, and moved her food closer to herself, before taking a few bites.

Buffy, having remembered that Dawn had not yet been introduced to the new arrivals, and also re-realizing their state of dress, took it upon herself to introduce them. "Dawnie, this is Faith. She's the newest Slayer" She motioned at the fellow Slayer. "And this is," Buffy motioned at the other new arrival. "...Well, we don't really know who this is." Buffy followed lamely, and looked to Faith for identification.

The other Slayer seemed more preoccupied with protecting her food and repeated her earlier statement. "Mine."

Willow smiled grandly, attempting to diffuse the situation. "This is Mine!"

The girl in question looked up from her meal, and smiled broadly at Willow's joke, surprising everyone in the room. It was the first non-feral and human emotion that either of the two arrivals had displayed. Faith, however, didn't appear to notice, and continued on with her meal. After the initial shock, Willow shyly smiled back at the Slayer's companion.

The meal continued without further incident or conversation until Dawn, not so kindly, reminded everyone that the new arrivals did, in fact, stink and were sorely in need of a new wardrobe. It was decided that a shower was the first thing in order for them. Faith had carried the girl upstairs to the bathroom, and Willow had joined them, after explaining that she would need to clean the girl's wound for her, and after the shower, re-bandage it. Faith had since left the two alone – a surprising show of trust towards the redhead.

"So..." Willow began, awkwardly. They were in close quarters in the bathroom, not sure where to go.

The girl raised her eyebrow, unknowingly mirroring Willow's face.

"You're Mine, huh?" Willow referenced the earlier remark. The girl coquettish smirked and nodded her head. Willow got the implications a few seconds later. "Oh. Not like that. I didn't mean it like _that_ that obviously. I'm not into that." Willow was in full babble mode. "Not that I'm against that! Nothing wrong with that at all! Oh no, I'm A-okay with all that." The girl leaned as close as her injured leg would allow her, smirking, obviously delighted by Willow's rambling. The close quarters did mean that personal space was lacking. "That's alright with me..." Willow trailed off as her personal space being cut off.

Briskly, Willow skittered to the side. "So, umm. You have a name right?"

The girl smiled, and nodded.

"...What is it?"

She opened her mouth, as if to speak, but no words came out. She shrugged, giving in to defeat and not answering the question.

Confused by her silence, Willow questioned the girl more. "Can you talk?"

Willow received another noncommittal shrug and a shake of the head. There was an awkwardly pregnant pause, before Willow said anything else.

"I guess I should clean your wound for you."

A shrug and a nod.

Working together Willow moved the girl into the bathtub. Being adjacent to her, Willow had to agree with Dawn that the wild girl did stink. Placing the girl on the lip of the bathtub Willow set to work doing her job. Slowly unwrapping the bandages and gauze that Giles had placed the previous night Willow unveiled the wound. Giles had done a good job stitching up the wound the previous night, it was still nasty looking but bone couldn't be seen and it was no longer a life threatening injury as long as it didn't become infected. There was slight swelling around the cut, signs of an infection starting, but nothing serious as long as it was nipped in the bud.

Taking a clean washcloth and wetting it with luke warm water Willow apologized. "This may hurt a bit." As gently as possible Willow cleaned the area around the wound. The girl flinched slightly, but didn't appear in too much pain. Willow continued cleaning the wound, being especially careful near the stitches. When it came time to add soap and actually scrub at the wound Willow knew the pain would be immense. Shooting another apologetic look towards her, Willow began the rigorous cleaning of the wound.

The girl clutched the nearby rim of the bathtub, knuckles white with pain. If she was not mysteriously silent Willow was sure she would be making some sort of noise from the pain. As soon as possible, Willow finished up, and gave the wound a brief rinse.

"All done." She announced. The girl seemed relieved. Willow stood up from the bathtub. "I'll let you take your shower now. You don't need help getting undressed do you?" After receiving another coquettish smile Willow turned to leave. "I'll take that as a no. I'll be outside when you're done, to re-bandage your leg."

Willow left the bathroom and closed the door behind her. A few moments later the faucet made a sibilance and the steady flow of water could be hear from outside, signifying that the patient was taking her bath. Having wandered into her room across the hall Willow waited until she would be needed again. Briefly, she contemplated their new situation. Obviously her patient wouldn't be going to live any where else until she was healed. And it seemed like Faith wasn't going any where without her. She wondered what the appearance of another Slayer would do to Buffy. Though the wild Slayer obviously was in no condition to take over Buffy's spot, Willow didn't doubt that Buffy would either feel threatened or relieved.

Then came the actual mystery of the pair. Where had they been since Buffy's latest death? The report said Faith had trained with her Watcher before her Watcher died, but obviously that was sometime ago. Had they been living in the wild that whole time? And more however, why did they even retreat to the wild?

Willow was also plagued by her patient's existence, or at least relation to the Slayer. The two were close, and they were both fighters, but they seemed to have nothing in common. Willow had done some brief research the night before, hacking into the Council's accounts. Faith had been documented for some time, as the Council had been following her as soon as she was recognized as a Potential, yet the other girl never showed up in any of Faith's files. Their relationship, Faith seemingly inability to trust anyone but her, and what Willow had heard of their fighting styles, would all lead to the conclusion that they had known each other for a long time. Yet, there was no evidence that they had ever met. Willow would undoubtedly deepen her research, but as far as she knew the girl had no paper trail. If it weren't for the fact that Willow had met her, according to her research, Willow would be under the impression that she didn't exist.

To top it all off, was her strange inability to talk. As Willow had witnessed, she clearly understood everything that was said, and had appeared to try to talk at one point. Yet she remained silent. When comparing her to Faith, who had the ability to talk, however primitive, and choose not to, more aspects of the girl were highlighted. Sure, Willow had only known the two less than twenty four hours, but she was already getting the hang out how they worked, and worked together.

Both of them were powerful, feral – animalistic even - powers. Willow didn't doubt that the wounded girl would not hesitant to protect Faith the way the Slayer had thus far. They had their similarities, yet were very different. Faith was guarded and not trustful of new people, but the girl was more open and ready to trust. Faith also seemed to hold in her emotions, whereas her companion obviously was more lenient, if the bathroom encounter was anything to go by.

Willow also noticed that the girl definitely was interested in her. Willow may have been blind in high school, but she had since grown up and knew when someone was physically attracted to her. Over the years, as she grew out of her awkward overalls stage, Willow had gained many an admirer, women and men alike. However, what this meant in terms of her younger house guest, Willow did not know.

Willow was drawn from her thought by a knock of her door frame. The tall brunette Slayer stood, leaning against the frame, waiting for an invitation to enter. Motioning for her to enter Willow sat down on her bed, unsure at why her visitor was there.

"How is she?" The brunette Slayer sounded oddly human, it seemed she was finally getting used to talking again, after how long she had gone without. She was concerned.

"She'll be fine." Willow reassured her. "There's slight infection, but nothing we can't handle. She just needs to heal and keep her weight off her leg in the mean time. I think we have some crutches from when Dawnie broke her ankle in eighth grade that she can use until then."

Faith was visibly relieved, but as soon as she noticed she was outwardly projecting her emotions she clamped back down. Across the hallway the sound of the running water stopped. "That's my cue to go help her, I guess." Willow stood awkwardly, but didn't move, waiting for Faith to make the first move.

Finally she turned to exit Willow's room. She paused for a second at the doorway. "Thank you." Faith murmured. The words were monotonous, and the volume was so slight that Willow had to strain to hear, but she instantly knew the Faith was truly grateful for her help. She was gone before Willow could say anything more, and had already disappeared from sight.


	4. Chapter 4

Buffy glanced around the crowded mall cafeteria. Briefly she considered her companions. "And we're sure this was a good idea, why, Will?"

For seemingly the tenth time Willow assured her friend. "We'll be fine." Briefly, she also considered their companions of choice for the day. Sitting across the rickety and stained mall cafeteria table at the source of Buffy's uneasy were Faith and her friend, gorging themselves on take-out Chinese food. "I mean," Willow stopped to amend herself. "As long as no one tries to start a conversation with them, they pass as normal human beings that aren't all feral."

Both Faith and the girl took a moment to stop their eating to stare pointedly at Willow. "Less with the evil eyes, more with the eat-y." Buffy urged the pair. Without too much encouragement they continued on with their General Tso's fried chicken.

"Oh come on, Buff. It's just like when you got back from Heaven," Willow paused guiltily. "You needed to go out and see the world again, get accustomed to being around the living. And besides, they can't keep wearing your clothes." After deciding that the pair couldn't run around in rags in public, and neither having the tiny frame of Willow, both Slayer and accomplice had been forced to dress in Buffy's spares.

"Red has a point." Faith spoke up, surprising both Scoobies. Over the last few days that the Slayer been staying with them she had slowly been talking more. She was clearly more socially aware and ready to re-enter society that she had the first night. Her companion, who still remained nameless besides the jokingly "Mine," had still mysteriously remained silent. Upon seeing the Scoobies' surprise she continued. "Pastels really aren't my color."

Faith promptly went back to eating her Chinese food. "See," Willow complained to Buffy. "She eats like a Slayer, too! It's not just you. Now we have, like, seven mouths to feed at home, if you two both count as two. And I don't care if the way to the heart is through the stomach. Being the only person that cooks in this household-" Willow caught Buffy attempting to interject. "-No, Dawn's creations don't count as food – I think we should get take out more often. Though, do you think that could work the other way around? The way to the stomach is through the heart? Because that General Tso's looking quite lovely right now." Willow trailed off from her Willow-babble.

The younger of the feral pair pushed her plate at Willow. "O-oh." Willow looked at the plate, and then at the girl. "I'm actually fine. It's 3 in the afternoon. Most people don't eat at this time." The girl looked slightly disappointed, but took back her offering.

Faith barely gave her companion a glance before snatching the plate on its retreat back towards their side of the table. The victim of the stealing looked slightly shocked for a moment, before she attempted to steal her food back. As her hand grabbed one end of the flimsy Styrofoam plate her eyes locked with Faith's. Buffy and Willow watched in wonder as the food tug of war froze for a split second, while Faith and the girl seemed to communicating merely with their eyes. The younger of the two looked annoyed whereas the older seemed slightly confused and bewildered. She obviously saw nothing wrong with the stealing of the food. Her look almost seemed to say _What? You weren't going to eat it._

Then some sort of hidden realization spread across Faith's face, and she smirked, letting go of the plate. Smugly, the younger took her food back, and turning to eat it – missing the punch that was send her way. Equally as smugly, Faith watched the girl fly across the empty bench, the result of a swift punch to the side.

Heads turned all around the cafeteria. Those closest to the Scoobies and the pair stood up, as if to flee, though unsure of their way of flight. Buffy and Willow were as bewildered by the fight as everyone surrounding them.

The younger growled and launched herself at Faith, somehow moving despite her life threatening injury only a week ago. Faith grabbed the girl as she catapulted towards her, changing her direction and threw her into a nearby trashcan.

As the trashcan crashed and leftover food started to stain the floor Buffy and Willow snapped into action. Rounding to the other side of the table they reached the girl first. "Faith, cut this out!" Buffy yelled. From behind them the girl stood, her limp apparent again, and charged past the Scoobies, barreling the Slayer into the ground. They landed in a heap, rolling and tussling on the floor. Buffy's slayer hearing told her that at least one, if not both of them were growling as they rolled, fighting for the upper-hand.

"You too, Mine!" Buffy said as she crossed over to the fighting pair. "All this over stolen food? Really?" Physically pushing through dazed onlookers Buffy reached the Slayer and the girl. Grabbing the closest one – Faith – Buffy ripped the pair apart. Willow quickly emerged from the crowd to stop the girl from leaping towards the Slayer again. Smirking Faith looked up at Buffy, and sent a playful punch into Buffy's shoulder.

It was then that both Buffy and Willow got what was going on. The two were playing in some weird animalistic way. They were _playing_. Willow scolded the girl under her arm. "You're not allowed to fight like that in public."

The girl tried to win Willow over to her side, much as Faith was trying to win over Buffy, with a sly confident smile, but neither Scoobies would have any of it. The girl crumpled under Willow's resolve face and allowed herself to be picked up by the Wicca. "You hear that Faith?" Willow repeated. "No playing in public."

Dragging the pair away from the crowd of spectators, the four escaped into the nearest store. Releasing their guilty charges Buffy attempted to lecture the two before giving up when a sales clerk approached them to help them look for shoes.

It was then decided to get clothes for the girls and leave. After having traveled through several shops that Willow and Buffy would normally frequent, the Scoobies found themselves being dragged into shops that were definitely not their style. No pastel and overalls anywhere in sight.

It took them sometime, but by the end of the day Faith and the girl had bought enough new clothes to sufficiently make Buffy look like a pack horse, and if it weren't for her Slayer strength, she easily would have been buried. It was for this fact that she was very grateful that Giles had offered up his credit card for the day's trip. By the time that they had all arrived home safely, with Willow driving, Willow had retracted her statement about the pair needing to go out more and that all further trips would have to be chaperoned. The people of Sunnydale were only ignorant of supernatural phenomenons, not human ones.

* * *

><p>Slowly, the Summers – and Rosenberg – had adjusted to living with the new Slayer and her friend. Dawn had gotten good enough to make normal quesadillas for everyone for dinner on Tuesdays, and occasionally she could make pancakes in the mornings. Faith had retained most of her vocabulary after a few weeks – a vocabulary which was very colorful. She had moved downstairs to the empty cot, after finding that she trusted the Scoobies enough to let her companion sleep alone. The girl, in turn had taken up permanent residence on the couch as it was still an ill fated idea to have her climbing stairs on a normal basis. Though life could never be considered normal with two Slayers, a witch, and a ex-mystical ball on energy living in one household, everyone had seemingly adjusted to living together in their bizarre situation.<p>

Or so it seemed on the outside.

It was nearly a half month into the feral invasion of the Summers' household. Buffy was spending her valued private time in her basement, packing punch after punch into her punching bag. She had a lot on her mind. No, she didn't. She only had Faith on her mind. Faith, who came into her life in one crazy night with all her double entendres and stories of naked mud alligator wrestling. It wasn't that she was jealous of the feral Slayer. No, jealousy would be a much simpler emotion to comprehend than her rivaling annoyance at her and her immense need to be by her.

It was the Slayer Bond. Every second of every day, Buffy felt it. Buffy felt her. During the first few days it had been hard to cope with. That warm tingling that started at the base of her neck and moved down her spine. The fuzziness that became her brain whenever the other Slayer was close. Like right then. Buffy felt the tingles increase as she heard the soft padding of near silent feet descend down the stairs.

She didn't turn, and only continued to slam her fists into the punching bag. They both knew that the other knew they were there afterall. There was no human, or Slayer, way to not notice. When they were close it felt as if they were seated in front of a large flame, the warmth of the Bond traveling through the air.

When Faith spoke, it surprised them both. "What did the bag do to you, B?"

Buffy hated the nickname. Buffy hated the way that Faith found the need to name everyone again. Buffy hated the way Faith made her feel jealous. Buffy hated the way Faith just simply was. But over their short time together, Buffy couldn't bring herself to hate Faith herself.

Faith walks towards Buffy, either out of concern, or simply the need to sit on her own bed. Buffy never finds out, because when she turned to talk to Faith about inviting her on patrol, something they had not tried yet, she collided into Faith. Normally her Slayer reflexes would keep her from such clumsiness, but when Faith is around, all Slayer rules are off the board.

Buffy's hand awkwardly collided with Faith's right shoulder, nothing more than the briefest touch. But it was enough. The shock that resulted from the touch is enough it momentarily stops everything Buffy was doing. The question she had earlier is derailed from it's train of thought, crashing and burning else where in the Slayer's brain. It felt as if Buffy had just been shocked by sticking her hand into a thousand volts electric circuit. Except that would be painful, and what Buffy felt was far from painful. It was power, she realized. Pure Slayer power.

Since the Slayers had never actually physically touched before, Giles having deemed it a bad idea for them to spar together yet, thus they had never felt the physical consequences of their Bond. Giles had earlier hypothesized that their attunement to each other was that since they weren't actually supposed to exist together, they were made of the same stuff. But after they had touched both Slayers knew better. It was more than that they were made of the same thing, it was pure power. Buffy and Faith had the power of every Slayer that ever was, and probably ever will be stored in their veins. They radiated this power. Even Faith seemed to stagger slightly from the power of the touch.

And when they touched, well, immovable object met unstoppable force.

"Oh my Goddess." Buffy managed out, the effects of living with Willow coloring her vocabulary.

"How 'bout oh my fucking goddess." Faith added her own color to the statement.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Notes<strong>: As you'll see, I'm taking a few artist's licenses here. I'm expanding and exaggeration the idea of Slayer bond between Faith and Buffy as I feel it was an idea that has a lot of potential. Speaking of Potential, our favorite bratty Potential Slayer has continued to remain nameless and speechless. Why the redundancy, when it's quite obvious to you, the readers, who she is?(We hope. This is a Buffy/Faith AND Willow/Kennedy piece that you're reading afterall) Simply put, I want you, the readers, to see the characters' world they way they see it. They don't know who she is, so I'm writing it like you don't know who she is yet, either. Don't worry, she won't remain nameless and speechless for long. The returning of her voice (as you can probably see, it has been stolen) will be one of the first up coming plot point.

Also, I realize this chapter sucks. I just had to get this general plot point out of the way, and I can't find a way to rewrite it without having to redo the entire chapter and I don't have a creative juice for that currently. I promise next chapter will be better. Humor me today, eh?

Please review! It's how I know that people actually like and will read this story. I attempt to update once a week, during the weekends if I get enough reviews.


	5. Chapter 5

"Close your eyes." Giles instructed as he watched the two Slayers. "Center your body. Breath in. Breath out."

As both Slayers calmed themselves in preparation they breathed in unison. Inhale. Exhale. Even from separate parts of the back room their bodies adjusted to each others, Slayer hearing picking up the subtle cues in the air.

"Begin." Giles ordered, watching in fascination as the scene began to play out in front of him. Buffy initiated, still with her eyes closed advancing into the center of the room. At her pause Faith exploded from her own corner, a front flip bringing her closer to Buffy. As Faith continued with her momentum into another front flip she shot out her leg, placing a well aimed blow towards Buffy. A blow that never connected.

Buffy feigned out of the way just as Faith's foot flew through the air. Before she could recover Buffy spun and high kicked towards Faith. The wild Slayer fell flat to the ground as Buffy's leg extended over her head.

The exchange of near blows and evasive action continued even as neither Slayer opened her eyes. They danced a deadly ballet, dealing attacks that could momentarily, or permanently, handicap any normal human, yet neither reaping any. "Focus." Giles commanded. "Focus only on your bond to each other. Forget all other senses."

For a moment he watched as the dance continued. Never had he seen a fighter so well matched to Buffy. Though he suspected that Faith's watcher had trained her in several melee weaponry, from what he had seen, she had clearly been trained in several different types of martial arts.

"Concentrate on her presence. Seek her out." Giles continued to observe the fight.

"What do you think I was doing, G-Man?" Faith complained as she ducked from another of Buffy's punches. "Tap dancing? Doing yoga?"

"Speaking of yoga," Giles continued as he ignored Faith. Though he was glad to have another Slayer around the Hellmouth, he wished the Faith would have been slightly more orthodox. In the last week Buffy had called him "G-man" thrice.

"Oh no. We aren't." Buffy complained, her exasperated expression comical with her closed eyes as she escaped from another of Faith's front flip kicks. "No yoga."

"I second that action." Faith said.

Giles cleaned his glasses in frustration. It was easier to get one Slayer to agree with his training routine. "Fine, not today then. There's something else I'd like to test. If you two finish up sparring I'll go fetch it from the basement."

Leaving the room Giles exited to the basement of the Magic Shop, which doubled as a storage room. Shifting among the dusty shelves, it took a moment for Giles to find the box he was looking for. Anya had rearranged the boxes by monetary value, and her new system was quite confusing, as her view on the worth of certain objects was debatable. Never the less, Giles gingerly took the box of mystical crystals down from the third shelve. In it, it contained several crystals of varying sizes: a large blue crystal which might have been the Crystal of Impending Doom, a small clear spherical crystal, and several other assorted crystals. Finally the ex-watcher found what he was looking for.

"What that, G-Man?" Faith asked as he returned to the backroom.

"It's the Crystal of Divinitas, or divinity. It detects beings that have divine or prophetic nature and power. The brighter it glows, the most intense the present power is. Normally it can't detect a Slayer as the Slayer's power is bound within themselves, and the Crystal of Divinitas can only detect free power, and not power that has been harvested. However, I suspect that the bond the exists between you two may have a freer, less bonded form than your individual powers."

"In English?" Buffy asked.

"I'm going to put this crystal between you two and see if it makes pretty lights."

"Ohhhh." Buffy nodded in agreement. "Carry on."

"Please take a seat next to each other." Giles instructed as the Slayers sat down onto the padded mat of the training room, each facing the other. Slowly, Giles walked forward and placed the rough crystal between the two Slayers. For a moment nothing happened, but then the artifact began to glow a pale orange.

"It's working."Giles exclaimed in surprise. "Now, I want you each to focus on the bond and open yourself up to it."

Buffy paused, thinking within herself, and drawing out the feeling of the other Slayer. The ever constant buzz in her head and the warm at the base of her spine tingled throughout her body. She focused on that, drawing it up her spine, as she would water from a well. The buzzing in her head intensified.

Faith in turn recalled the events of the previous day, when they had touched and released some sort of power flood gates, hence their current meeting with Giles. She remembered that flow of warmth into her body spreading from her shoulder where Buffy had punched her to the tips of her toes. Faith remembered how good that power had felt, nestled into her chest as her skin felt like it was being charged with electricity.

Between the Slayers the crystal began to glow an intense bright orange. As Giles watched, the crystal began to steadily flow up into the air before it stopped and hovered between the Slayers.

Remembering how intense the power had felt the other day, Faith suddenly had the urge to touch Buffy again. It appeared as if physical contact would open some sort of stopper in their bond, no doubt strengthening it.

Slowly reaching out, Faith extended her hand towards Buffy. Fingers spread, she hovered, making clear of her intentions and allowing Buffy to reach out towards her. Their fingertips met, and a sledgehammer of force hit them. It wasn't nearly as intense as it had been the day before.

Or, at least it wasn't until the crystal started spinning out of control, glowing a deep red. As it spun it accelerated until finally it exploded, the mystical force throwing Buffy and Faith careening across the room in opposite directions.

Later the day, as the sun began to set, the smell of a delicious dinner being cooked permeated the air in the Summers and Rosenberg household. At the stove Willow stood as she stirred the stew that was the source of the heavenly smell. Next to the witch, sitting on the counter, was Faith's companion. The wild girl swung her legs as she attempted to peek into the pot of future dinner. Without looking Willow batted her hand away and continued her one-sided conversation her the girl.

"-And that's why the sub-nucleic glia fibers insulate the axons of the neurons transmitting the electric impulses and magic residue across the brain. No, you may not eat that." Willow chastised as the girl was about to munch on a biscuit that had been sitting nearby. Briefly she considered the situation. "I'm sorry, you probably find my hypothesizes on the neurological causes and effects of magic manipulation to be boring."

Embarrassed, the girl quickly shook her head. Grabbing her nearby dry erase board, and matching marker, she hastily scrawled, "No! It's important to you. I'm just hungry." As she showed the board to Willow she patted her stomach for emphasize.

The dry erase board and marker had been a gift from Buffy, from about half way through the first week of the girl and Faith's presence. She had gotten tired of the way Faith and the girl could communicate without words, signaling their apparent close relationship to each other, while everyone else in the household had to use bizarre hand motions to signal everything. Though at times her handwriting was unreadable, it certainly made communication easier.

"We'll eat as soon as Buffy and Faith get back from training. Dawnie already left for her friend's house."

The girl gave Willow her best puppy dog eyes as she pleaded with the witch. Very consciously, Willow tried not to think about how sexy she looked when she was pouting. _Think non gay thoughts,_ Willow thought. _Nope, no evil Willow vampire gay thoughts here at all_.

"N-no, food until they get back." Inwardly, Willow cursed her stutter. She hadn't had a stutter since high school. She was big, grown up, lives away from her parents, non-stuttering, college Willow.

The sound of front door slamming was the saving bell. Faith and Buffy walked into the Summer's residence. As the pair walked in, Buffy poked her head into the kitchen.

"Hey, Wills." She said. "Thanks for making dinner and all, but I'm going to take Faith out on patrol."

"You're taking her on patrol?" Willow exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, Giles said it might be a good idea. We're going to start training together tomorrow."

"Giles said that?" Willow pondered, complexed. "I thought he was all for the keeping her out of action until necessary."

Faith took her turn to pipe up. "He did some crazy magics today - got the bruises to prove it. I think he wants us to try out the dual Slayer mojo in the field."

The girl jumped down from the counter as Faith finished, hastily scribbling on her dry erase board, "_I'm going too._"

"No, you're not." was Faith's immediate response.

The girl underlined her sentence, and stared at her older companion.

"No." Faith reiterated.

"You're leg still isn't healed." Willow added.

She continued staring down Faith, getting closer to the Slayer's face. The Sunnydale originals watched on in fascination as a silent battle of the wills took place. Finally, Faith broke the staring contest, snapping at the girl and emitting a loud and threatening growl that shocked both Buffy and Willow.

The girl snapped back, with much less ferocity, and grumpily returned to her place on the countertop.

There was an awkward and pregnant pause as no one said anything. "I'll go grab the stakes." Buffy offered, and quickly fled the room.

"Food smells good, Red." Faith said in the silence that followed. "You should save it and we all can have it tomorrow." Some days, it appears as if Faith's longest sentences were those pertaining to food.

Willow nodded as Faith crossed the room and placed a hand on her younger counterpart's head. She ruffled her hair much to the younger's annoyance and grinned a feral grin, much as if to say, _Maybe next time_.

The girl huffed and avoided eye contact except for in fleeting instances. Giving the head one last affectionate pat, Faith turned as Buffy rounded the corner, again the charade of cool, aloofness and distance. Grabbing an offered stake from Buffy, Faith turned from the kitchen and left the household.

"Sorry about missing dinner." Buffy said as she followed the other Slayer out the door.

Awkwardly Willow and the girl sat in the kitchen with the pot of soup and the dry erase board. Making a face, Willow turned to the girl. "You up for bagels?"  
>-<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

"So," Buffy began awkwardly. "Do you ever get a craving for non fat yogurt after you slay?"

Faith looked at the blonde beside her as they meandered the latest of Sunnydale's cemeteries. "No..."

"Oh." Buffy sighed, crestfallen. "I guess it's not a Slayer thing then, just a me thing."

* * *

><p>The two girls that walked out of the Summers residence made quite the awkward pair. The redhead with her empty recyclable bags ready to be filled at the grocery store and to save the rainforest. The brunette, in turn, with her awkward just-too-large dry erase board slung under one arm. They turned down the familiar Revello Drive away from 1603 and towards downtown Sunnydale.<p>

"You do like bagels, right?" Willow asked her companion for the night.

The girl, in return smiled and nodded.

"Well that's good. 'Cause bagels are Jewish. I'm Jewish you know." The girl smiled beside Willow, her grin unseen. It was clear even though she had only known Willow for a month she could tell when an adorable Willow babble was about to start.

"Well, I was Jewish. Was being a key word. Kinda more on the Wicca things now, if you didn't notice. But my mother's Jewish, not that you'd know it by talking to her. Not that I did much talking to her... But bagels are Jewish, that much you can know. I mean, Faith has a Boston accent, and there are a lot of Jews there. Are you two from there?" Willow paused mid rant to receive a twisted of the lips and a non committable shrug. "So just Faith is from Boston?" Willow deduced as the girl nodded.

"One day I wanna hear how you two know each other. Not that I'm not fine with you writing it or anything. Faith isn't much of a talker is she?"

A silent laugh escaped from Willow's companion and an eyeroll, as if she was saying, _You have no idea_.

As they rounded the corner of Revello Drive to the main street Willow picked up on her babble. In fact, it could be said that with the girl's silence, and with Buffy being out of the house most of the time, the majority of Willow's conversations had become one-sided conversations with the taciturn girl. "I'd like to go to Boston one day. Or New York."

At the words of the big apple city, the girl made a sudden hand gesture.

"New York?" Willow asked questionably, trying to understand the girl in the way Faith could, with just a look. After she received another nod, Willow questioned further. "Is that where you are from?"

A nod and a few more blocks brought the unlikely pair to the doors of the neighborhood grocery store. Not quite a superstore, but still larger than your average Mom and Pap's, Sunnydale Center was a modest establishment. Willow entered the brightly lit store and began to prose the aisles upon aisles of Californian, passing for organic, food, as her silent shadow followed her eagerly.

Stopping briefly at the bakery portion of the store Willow selected a half dozen of assorted bagels. Suddenly she found an arm around her waist, as the matching arm reached into the large bin of bagels and placed another bagel into Willow's grocery bag.

Willow turned on the newly crowned New Yorker. "B-bagel." She stuttered, again cursing herself for stuttering. The girl smiled coyly and walked jauntily off towards the diary section of the store. _She definitely gets a solid nine out of ten in terms of flirting. _Willow thought, and then shook such thoughts out of her head.

After filling the few shopping bags with bagels and other assorted groceries and passing through the checkout lane, Willow and the girl were headed out of Sunnydale Center, laden down with the burden of their late evening excursion.

Turning down the the street, back towards Revello drive, Willow paused outside a narrow alleyway. The architects in charge of building Sunnydale should have been arrested, for having so many ominous dark alleys in one town clearly should have been a crime. A scuffle seemed to be ensuing in the darkness.

"Hey." Willow called out. "Who is there?" She held her grocery bags around her like a shield of starch and over cooked dough. The girl peered over Willow's shoulder into the darkness.

Willow approached the edge of the alley, trailing her physical shadow. A form was silhouetted in the dark. Two forms actually. They slouched over a collapsed figure, that was attempting to hold them back.

"Vampires." Willow hissed. She set down her grocery bags next to the girl and approached the vampires from behind, the latter being oblivious to the witch's presence. "_Ignis_." Willow commanded, as a ball of fire erupted in her hand. Behind Willow, and unseen, her companion nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden fire. Clearly Willow had yet to review any of her magically inclined abilities to the girl yet.

Holding her self created torch, Willow approached the vampires. This was easy. She had done it tons of time before. Admittedly more often than not at Buffy's side, or at very least with a handful of Scoobies, and not a mute mystery girl by her side, but gosh darnit she was Willow Rosenberg, she could taken care of two lousy vampires. Holding a flaming ball of fire - was that self contradicting, or just redundant? - was not proving as easy in real life than she had practiced it in her bathroom with a ready supply of cool water. Concentrating Willow slowly crept forward.

The vampires punched their victim, and they stopped moving. A gruff voice called out, "Hey, this guy any got nothing on him."

Willow faltered. Vampires, stealing? Now that was unusual even in Sunnydale. She lost her concentration on her flame, just as the pair stood. Suddenly, her flame was extinguished, and she, defenseless, due to a moment of indecision. The taller looked over the shorter of the pair's shoulder at Willow.

The robbers' faces were smooth and pale, lacking any scrunch or wrinkle not produced by time and the weariness of life. Their teeth, void of any inhuman canines. Humans.

Willow paused, surprised. Everyday she faced the supernatural evils of the world that she forgot that such natural evils existed.

"Hey, there's some chick over there, boss." The taller signalled to the shorter robber. The shorter, a decently dressed man turned to see Willow, and a few feet behind, in the shadows, the girl.

"Eh, take care of her." The boss ordered. "No need for loss ends."

The taller thug shrugged as if to say, "If you say so" and withdrew from his jacket something the glinted metal in the dim lighting. A gun.

Realizing what was going on, moments before Willow did, the girl rushed to Willow's rescue, barrelling into the thugs.

Too late, the gunshot echoed through the narrow alleyway, like - well - a gunshot.

"_NOOOOO!_" The girl's voice ricocheted between Willow's ears.

And then, the witch fell to the ground in pain.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>You thought this chapter was going to be about their patrol, didn't you? How wrong you were...

Reviews fuel the fire. I update once every week provided I get enough reviews! (So, please, review. I'm not above begging.)


	7. Chapter 7

Buffy watched as Faith sauntered ahead of her in the cemetery. This newest addition to her life puzzled her. Sure, Faith took up a lot of time, and she didn't know the truth in her statement when she had joked that taking on the new Slayer would be like taking on a new dog. Faith needed to be fed, walked, and cleaned up after. It was almost as if she now had another person to take care of besides Dawn. Sure, Willow did a lot of the taking care of Dawn, and she even seemed to have taken charge of taking care of Faith's wounded companion, but it was strange. Buffy had been the backbone of her family after Joyce had died, but it was more of a necessary position than a volunteer position. Buffy was meant to lead, it was in her blood, but she didn't know how to take care of someone. Heck, she had only actually only had a sister for a few years.

The newest additions to her family were strange, and that's all there was too it. Faith was a double sided coin, cocky, and loud when she talked, as rare as it was, it was getting more common. Yet, when she wasn't talking she was dark and withdrawn, barely coming out of the basement that had become her own private area except for training, unless she was absolutely needed. That, or to check on her companion.

Speaking of which, Buffy noticed that the girl had developed a strange pendence for Willow, shadowing her whenever she was in the house. Perhaps it was because Willow was the only one who ever took the time out of their day to sit and talk with the girl, Buffy thought guiltily. She should probably talk to her sometime or later, rather than just asked where Faith was at that moment in time.

Snap back to present time. Where was Faith, anyway? Vaguely searching the cemetery, Buffy looked for her errant Slayer. She was supposed to report back to Giles about how she fought after all. Maybe do some joint Slaying.

Buffy found her sister Slayer seated intently at a grave. Not a sound rustled around them, as Faith knelt staring at the grave. The dirt was fresh, but small bits of grass were beginning to show. The gravestone indicated that the occupant had been deceased for less than a year.

"There you are." Buffy said as she approached.

"Shh." Faith instantly shot Buffy down as she gazed intently at the grave.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

Faith pointed to the grave. "Listen." Intently, Buffy tried to listen. Someone a bird chirped. Buffy looked at Faith impatiently. She wanted to go do something now. Faith held up a finger, as if to say, wait, and pointed it at the grave again.

Now, a rustling noise, just at the edge of their Slayer hearing. Then scraping, now clearly audible. Buffy looked at Faith incredulously. How had she heard that? Ever Buffy couldn't have heard that, and Faith had clearly heard it from a distance away.  
>Slowly a hand attempted to dig itself out as the Slayers watched intently, the vampire having no clue that its un-life was about to be cut terminally close. As soon as most of the arm had escaped its earthly confines, Faith pounced, yanking the arm and its owner from the soil. The dirt erupted and cascaded off the undead fiend. Before the vampire, dressed in its funeral finest, could even realize what was going on Faith had already rammed a wooden stake into its heart, exploding in a fit of dust.<p>

Buffy looked on, impressed. Faith gave a sly grin. Show off.

Buffy and Faith spent the rest of the night taking turns slaying newly risen vamps. Faith's keen ears could pick them out long before Buffy could. She wondered how it was that Faith had such good hearing, but decided to file it away under other mysteries surrounding the Wild Slayer.

Having tackled nearly all of the cemeteries that Buffy frequented in the small town of Sunnydale, the Slayers were bristling for a fight. They were tired and restless of the newly arise vampires that barely gave any fight. Plus, Faith needed some serious lessons in punning.

Having found their way into the ninth cemetery of the night, Faith appeared impatient next to Buffy, dancing from foot to foot as she walked, and jerking her head towards every errant noise.

"There you are, love." A familiar undead with a Cockney accent called as he approached the pair. Instantly sensing the vampire, Faith leapt toward the unsuspecting Spike. She tackled into him, throwing him to the ground. More out of instinct than actual self defense, Spike threw a right hook towards the Wild Slayer. He visibly cringed from his mental pain.

Buffy watched as Faith pummeled Spike, caught between amusement at the tamed vampire's expense and the need to protect the, at the moment, harmless and defenseless undead man. It took Faith withdrawing her stake for Buffy to make a move.

Hastily, Buffy grabbed Faith under the arm, and heaved her away from Spike. Briefly Faith struggled against Buffy. "Let me go." She hissed.

"You can't hurt this one." Buffy attempted to reason. "Only I get that privilege." She joked. Grudgingly, Faith stopped her protests and Buffy released her.

Spike stood, holding his head in one hand. "What the bloody hell was that for?" Spike looked from Faith to Buffy. "Who the bloody hell is she?"

Buffy ignored him, and introduced Faith to Spike. "Faith, this is Spike. He has a chip in his head so he can't hurt humans. He's harmless-"

"Hey!" Spike exclaimed.

"-so we keep him around. He is occasionally useful. Not often." Buffy ended lamely. Faith glared holes into Spike, and he glared back.

"And Spike, this is Faith. She's the new Slayer."

Faith looked from Spike to Buffy, distastefully. "So, he's your little vampire dog?"

"No." Spike responded.

"Close enough." Buffy responded, more to spite Spike than any other reason.

"Plaything too, I suppose?" Faith continued to glare at Spike.

She was meet with a resounding "NO." From both parties. From Spike, perhaps fto hide his ass from the vicious new Slayer than anything else. Faith sneered and turned to Buffy.

"Why do you keep him around then?" Faith looked down at Spike. If she hadn't made her disdain clear earlier, she certainly was then.

"He's occasionally useful." Buffy tried, unhelpfully.

"Hmph." Faith said and stalked off. "I'm going to go slay some _real _vampires." Faith disappeared into the cemetery.

"What's her problem, love?" Spike asked.

"One," Buffy said, "not your love. Two, she hasn't had a good old fashion slay all night, all the cemeteries were empty tonight."

"Oh, I cleared them out for you. Hadn't got my madness and mayham fix for the day."

Infuriated, Buffy turned at the surprised vampire. "So, it's your fault! I knew it." Buffy stalked off after Faith, leaving Spike alone.

"Slayers." Spike muttered in exasperation, his version of 'women!'

Buffy caught up to Faith, several crypts over. "Come on, let's go home." She told the slayer. "We aren't going to find any more vamps tonight."

Reluctantly the Slayers returned to the Summers household. "We're home!" Buffy called as they entered the threshold.

Silence greeted the Slayers.

* * *

><p>The hard concert jared Willow as she collapsed to the ground. Her vision blurred from her speedy descent and the sudden flash of pain.<p>

It took her a few moments to realize the pain was gone just as quickly as it had come. What had happened? She remembered the robbers, the gunshot, the voice - she had spoken! - and then the pain.

Sitting up dazed, Willow inspected herself for injuries. No gunshot wound. No blossom of blood spreading out from her chest. She was perfectly fine.

The robbers, however were not in an equal state. The thug had lost his gun, and it now lay in a small puddle close to Willow. Unarmed, the muggers were nothing against the trained precision of the the girl. She pounded into the thug, the boss already laying across the alley, supposedly knocked out.

Woozily, Willow stood, and placed a soft hand on the girl's shoulder, hoping to stop her violent outrage. She turned, ready to strike, and faltered when she saw Willow.

"_You're okay!_" She exclaimed in surprise.

Except, she didn't, Willow realized as the gears started to line together in her brain. The girl's lips never moved, her mouth only half way parted in surprise. The voice Willow was hearing was foreign, new, and clearly belonged to this girl, yet Willow wasn't actually hearing it from her ears. She was hearing it from her mind.

"Yeah. No gunshots for me." Willow did a little twirl to emphasize her point. She was caught off balance by her own twirling, still unbalanced from her earlier pain. Pain that now made sense. The girl made been so concerned about her safety, that her thoughts had accidentally been caught by Willow's magic, the force and intensity enough to make Willow feel literal pain.

Quickly, the girl caught Willow before she fell into the puddled concert again. "Thanks." Willow mustered, shyly as she disentangled from the girl and stood on her own. The younger of the pair looked concerned at Willow, her distress not elevated at all.

"Really, I'm fine. It's just that hearing your thoughts threw me off a bit." Willow decided to forgo the mentioning of the skull splitting pain. The girl, looked confused as the witch realized she would have to explain.

"You know I'm a witch, right?" Willow questioned. Unsure, the girl nodded. "Well, I can occasionally read thoughts. Only when they are directed at me, through." Willow assured the girl. "Earlier, your thoughts apparently were so powerful, and aimed at me, that they made their way into my brain without you meaning to. It was a little shocking, so I got off balanced." Suddenly, Willow got an idea.

"You can talk to me, this way!" She looked ecstatic. The girl looked doubtfully. "Just try it," Willow prompted the girl. "Focus on sending your thought _towards _me." Willow watched as she scrunched up her face in the most adorable way, trying to figure out how to send her thoughts to Willow. "It'll get easier after the first few times." Willow assured her.

"_Hey._" The soft whisper carried volumes inside Willow's mind. She smiled, letting the girl knowing it had worked. Looking around at the alley with the unconscious thugs, and the fallen groceries, Willow grabbed the girl.

"Come on, let's go somewhere where we can talk." Slowly a soft smile spread across the girl's face as Willow led her out of the darkened alley.

* * *

><p>Willow sat down on a swing as the girl took the swing adjacent to her. At the late hour of night, the park was nearly deserted. Willow swung her swing to face the girl, eagerly she looked at new newest friend.<p>

"_What?_" She asked, her face scrunched up as she tried to visualize her thought being sent to Willow like a passed note folded up like a sailboat, traveling the air between them.

"Tell me everything." Willow eagerly looks at her. "I wanna know about you. I mean, you already know a lot about me from living with me for the last few weeks, but I don't even know your name."

"_Kennedy._" She thought whispered to Willow.

"Kennedy?" Willow asked, trying out the name on her tongue. "Last or first?"

"_First. I don't use my last name anymore. It protects my family better that way._"

"Oh. Well, you still have to tell me everything. Age? How do you know Faith? Who are you?"

The girl - Kennedy, Willow reminded herself - gave a silent laugh.

"_Nineteen. I was only nine when I found out._"

Willow attempted to decipher the cryptic message. She looked to Kennedy for guidance.

"_I'm a Potential._" She clarified. "_Once the Council found out, they took me away from my family to start training. For a time I was allowed to attend school too, but then the Council pulled me out of boarding school and started to train me full time_." At Willow's surprised gasp, she looked up. "_Not all of the watchers are as lenient as your Mr. Giles._"

"But, that's horrible. Didn't you get to go to high school? ...Well, I suppose that is equally as horrible."

Kennedy shrugged. "_It wasn't too bad. My watchers were always sure to educate me on history and languages, along with the passing science or math. I'm sure I could easily pass high school today. Plus, I would never have met Faith if I hadn't been taken in by the Council. It was when I was twelve that I first met her - she was thirteen. We had both been assigned to a new Watcher. Diana Dormer. She was younger than those other stuffy Brits, and a lot nicer too. She always treated Faith and I as real people, not just some weapon that she had to prepare. Plus she would turned the blind eye with Faith and I went out clubbing." _She added, amused. "_And she made really good Thanksgiving turkey for a Brit._" The last bit was softer, the paper sailboat of thought maybe not meant to cross the chasm between the Potential and the witch.

"_She died of heart failure few years back. I don't know how long, Fai and I high tailed it out of there pretty soon after. We decided that the Council probably didn't care much about us, we were just two Potentials out of the hundreds, and we were right for the most part. Once we left Boston - that's where we were living at the time - we didn't know where to go, so we kept out of the way of civilization for the most part. Occasionally we would run into a demon infested town, and clear it out, but otherwise we kept to the wild when we could. The Council couldn't find us that way. And it worked too, until Faith got called. Then we weren't just some rebellious teenagers, the Council needed Faith, especially once Buffy dead, though we didn't know what it was at the time. I think Faith knew though, the moment it happened. She just woke up one morning and she was different. Sullen, as if part of her had died too, and they'd never even met. Well, once Buffy came back, Faith knew immediately, so we figured the best thing to do was to head to you. It was Faith's idea really._"

Willow let all the information sink in. "Wow." She whispered.

"_Oh, yeah. And I'm gay._" Kennedy ended as an afterthought, and looked slyly across the swings at Willow.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Never fear, I didn't shot Willow (Yet). And Kennedy has a name! And there's the patrol that ya'll were expecting, though probably not the way you were expecting. And finally, backstory! As you can see, the Kennedy/Willow story line is progressing a lot faster than the parallel Fuffy storyline. That's 'cause, as you know, Kennedy knows what she wants, and she goes after it.

But anyway, I received a bit of a complaint saying I wasn't updating enough or often enough. I'd love to be sassy to you and say don't bite the hand that feeds you, but I won't be. I kinda forgot to give you all a fair warning. Last month, I did Script frenzy, so I was writing 4-8 pages a day for a different project, and that kinda took all my time and writing energy. Normal service might return if you keep leaving reviews!

I update once a week provided I get reviews!


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